Sherwood Forest & Calcium

[luvmyhunybuny]

How much is too much calcium? I am trying to make a switch to a grain free/soy free pellet food. I have heard a lot of good things about Sherwood Forest, but the first ingredient is alfalfa. Here is the analysis https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/rabbit-food-labels/

Anyone feeding Sherwood with good results?

[MoveDiagonally]

I believe you have to be careful with which version of their pellets you feed. One is labeled as “complete diet” and they instruct you to free feed the pellets while NOT feeding hay or veggies. Limiting pellets in the traditional sense is said to not work as well with the complete diet version because it’s “diluted” and meant for free feeding.

Then they have a “concentrated” version that is fed much like most feed regular pellets and you can include hay and veggies. 

 

More info from Sherwood here:

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/feeding-instructions/

 

The anylsis you posted is for the “complete diet”. Here is the analysis for both (off their site). I’m not sure how you’re planning to feed this food or if you knew all this. So sorry if it’s repeat info! 

 

Concentrated Version (Can be fed with hay and veggies)

 

Complete Diet Version (Free fed without pellets or veggies)

 

Edit: I know that I didn’t answer the question you asked. The calcuim does look high to me but I’m not sure how much is “too much”. Hopefully someone else can shine some light on that specifically! 

[luvmyhunybuny]

Yes, I read about the 2 different pellets, but the F/E pellet is even higher in calcium, which is what I am most concerned about.

[luvmyhunybuny]

My rabbits (right now) get limited Oxbow pellets, unlimited hay and about 4 cups of veggie a day. I don’t plan to “free feed” pellets. I have an email out to the company to see what they say.

[MoveDiagonally]

I’m interested in hearing what they say back and what others say here. I’ve been interested in Sherwood Pellets for a while because it does seem like a fresh and interesting feed.

[Sarita]

I wouldn’t worry about it – it’s not that much and it’s just a minimal part of the diet – rabbits do need calcium, it’s important for their bones.

[luvmyhunybuny]

 Okay I found this in Sherwood Forest FB page for anyone interested —

 

 Calcium… essentially rabbits absorb calcium passively and eliminate what they don’t need. Vitamin D3 is used to promote the active uptake of calcium and prevent its elimination (retains it at the kidneys) if the calcium content of the diet is limiting. Typical high grain and soy rabbit food is low in calcium because these ingredients are low in calcium… but they aren’t the natural diet of rabbits. Ingredients like green hay is the natural diet of rabbits and it shouldn’t be a big surprise that is is high in calcium but it acts differently in the body… especially when you don’t add synthetic vitamin D3! (sun cured hay contains natural vitamin D2 that can be converted to D3 by the rabbit naturally on an as needed basis.)

Concerning calcium… rabbits are built to handle a high calcium diet and you can find a lot of details here:https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/t…r-rabbits/ and here:https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/rabbit-mineral/

If you look at other brands you’ll see that they have a higher starch content because rabbits need “energy.” Ironically the starch doesn’t really get digested and instead fuels the growth of bacteria (good and bad) in the digestive tract (specifically the caecum). They essentially convert the starch (and the fiber) to short-chain volatile fatty acids that are absorbed across the intestinal wall and used as a primary energy source for the rabbit. The short story is that the rabbit still gets the fat it needs but it happens in a round-about way. But there is a problem with feeding starch because too much can cause the rapid growth of bad bacteria that change the pH of the caecum and lead to diarrhea and bloating. It is far better to feed them fat, and instead of refined vegetable oil that is devoid of vitamin E (or worse, rendered animal fat) it is best to feed them oil seeds that naturally contain everything that should be fed when boosting the fat content of the diet.

[luvmyhunybuny]

 This is on the website. Interesting information! 

https://www.naturalrabbitfood.com/timothy-hay-for-rabbits/

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